William Barnes

For other people named William Barnes, see William Barnes (disambiguation).
William Barnes
Born 22 February 1801
Bagber, Dorset
Died 7 October 1886 (aged 85)
Nationality English
Occupation minister, poet and philologist

William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English writer, poet, Church of England minister, and philologist. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a comprehensive English grammar quoting from more than 70 different languages.

Life

His memorial and grave at St Peter's Church, Winterborne Came

He was born at Rushay in the parish of Bagber, Dorset, the son of a farmer. After being a solicitor's clerk and for a while keeping a school at Mere in Wiltshire, he was ordained into the Church of England in 1847, taking a BD degree from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1851.[1] He served curacies at Whitcombe Church in Whitcombe, Dorset, 1847–52, and again from 1862. Between 1860–62 he held a curacy at Rotherham in Yorkshire. He became rector of St Peter's Church, Winterborne Came with Winterbourne Farringdon, Dorset, from 1862 to his death.

He first contributed the Dorset dialect poems for which he is best known to periodicals, including Macmillan's Magazine; a collection in book form Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, was published in 1844. A second collection Hwomely Rhymes followed in 1858, and a third collection in 1863; a combined edition appeared in 1879. A "translation", Poems of Rural Life in Common English had already appeared in 1868.

His philological works include Philological Grammar (1854), Se Gefylsta, an Anglo-Saxon Delectus (1849). Tiw, or a View of Roots (1862), and a Glossary of Dorset Dialect (1863).

Among his other writings is a slim volume on "the Advantages of a More Common Adoption of The Mathematics as a Branch of Education, or Subject of Study", published in 1834.

He was a friend of Thomas Hardy, Lord Tennyson and Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Barnes's poems are characterised by a singular sweetness and tenderness of feeling, deep insight into humble country life and character, and an exquisite feeling for local scenery.

Barnes is buried in Winterborne Came churchyard beneath a Celtic cross. The plinth of the cross has the inscription: 'In Memory of William Barnes, Died 7 October 1886. Aged 86 Years. For 24 Years Rector of this Parish. This Memorial was raised to his Memory by his Children and Grandchildren."[2] There is also a statue of him Dorchester town centre, outside St Peter's Church in that town.

Ralph Vaughan Williams set to music four of Barnes' poems, 'My Orcha'd in Lindèn Lea', in the "Common English" version ("Linden Lea"), 'Blackmwore Maidens', in the "Common English" version ("Blackmwore by the Stour"), "The Winter's Willow", and "In the Spring".

Linguistic purism

Further information: Linguistic purism in English

Barnes had a strong interest in language; he was fluent in Greek, Latin and several modern European languages. He called for the purification of English by removal of Greek, Latin and foreign influences so that it might be better understood by those without a classical education. For example, the word "photograph" (from Greek light+writing) would become "sun-print" (from Saxon). Other terms include "wortlore" (botany), "welkinfire" (meteor) and "nipperlings" (forceps).

This 'Pure English' resembles the 'blue-eyed English' later adopted by the composer Percy Grainger, and sometimes the updates of known Old English words given by David Cowley in How We'd Talk if the English had WON in 1066.

Style

As well as avoiding the use of these foreign words in his poetry, Barnes would often use a repetition of consonantal sounds similar to the Welsh poetry, cynghanedd. Examples of this can be heard in the lines, "Do lean down low in Linden Lea" and "In our abode in Arby Wood".

Example of Dorset dialect poetry

THE LOVE CHILD
Where the bridge out at Woodley did stride,
Wi' his wide arches' cool sheäded bow,
Up above the clear brook that did slide
By the poppies, befoam'd white as snow;
As the gilcups did quiver among
The white deäsies, a-spread in a sheet.
There a quick-trippèn maïd come along,-
Aye, a girl wi' her light-steppèn veet.
-
An' she cried "I do praÿ, is the road
Out to Lincham on here, by the meäd?"
An' "oh! ees," I meäde answer, an' show'd
Her the way it would turn an' would leäd:
"Goo along by the beech in the nook,
Where the children do plaÿ in the cool,
To the steppèn stwones over the brook,-
Aye, the grey blocks o' rock at the pool."
-
"Then you don't seem a-born an' a-bred,"
I spoke up, "at a place here about;"
And she answer'd wi' cheäks up so red
As a pi'ny leäte a-come out,
"No, I liv'd wi' my uncle that died
Back in Eäpril, an' now I'm a-come
Here to Ham, to my mother, to bide,-
Aye, to her house to vind a new hwome."
-
I'm asheämed that I wanted know
Any more of her childhood or life
But then, why should so feäir a child grow
Where no father did bide wi' his wife;
Then wi' blushes of zunrisèn morn,
She replied "that it midden be known,
"Oh! they zent me awaÿ to be born, -*
Aye, they hid me when some would be shown."
-
Oh! it meäde me a'most teary-ey'd,
An' I vound I a'most could ha' groan'd-
What! so winnèn, an' still cast azide-
What! so lovely, an' not to be own'd;
Oh! a God-gift a-treated wi' scorn
Oh! a child that a squier should own;
An' to zend her awaÿ to be born!-
Aye, to hide her where others be shown!

* Words once spoken to the writer

William Barnes, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (June 1879), p.382

See also

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
William Barnes
Wikiquote has quotations related to: William Barnes

Notes

  1. ↑ "Barnes, William (BNS838W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ↑ "Barnes Monument 3 Metres South of Nave of Church of St Peter". Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved 19 October 2010.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Barnes.

Links to public-domain editions of Barnes' works